State Department Waging "Open War" on White House

"It's not clear to me why the Secretary of State wishes to at once usurp the powers of the Congress and then to derail his boss's rapprochement with the Israeli government." — Foreign policy operative, quoted in the Washington Free Beacon.

Since he was sworn in as Secretary of State on February 1, Rex Tillerson and his advisors at the State Department have made a number of statements and policy decisions that contradict President Trump's key campaign promises on foreign policy, especially regarding Israel and Iran.

"Tillerson was supposed to clean house, but he left half of them in place and he hid the other half in powerful positions all over the building. These are career staffers committed to preventing Trump from reversing what they created." — Veteran foreign policy analyst, quoted in the Free Beacon.

The U.S. State Department has backed away from a demand that Israel return $75 million in military aid which was allocated to it by the U.S. Congress.

The repayment demand, championed by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was described as an underhanded attempt by the State Department to derail a campaign pledge by U.S. President Donald J. Trump to improve relations with the Jewish state.

The dispute is the just the latest example of what appears to be a growing power struggle between the State Department and the White House over the future direction of American foreign policy.

The controversy goes back to the Obama administration's September 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel, which pledged $38 billion in military assistance to Jerusalem over the next decade. The MOU expressly prohibits Israel from requesting additional financial aid from Congress.

Congressional leaders, who said the MOU violates the constitutional right of lawmakers to allocate U.S. aid, awarded Israel an additional $75 million in assistance in the final appropriations bill for fiscal year 2017.

Tillerson had argued that Israel should return the $75 million in order to stay within the limits established by the Obama administration. The effort provoked a strong reaction from Congress, which apparently prompted Tillerson to back down.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) "strongly warned the State Department that such action would be unwise and invite unwanted conflict with Israel," according to the Washington Free Beacon.

"As Iran works to surround Israel on every border, and Hezbollah and Hamas rearm, we must work to strengthen our alliance with Israel, not strain it. Congress has the right to allocate money as it deems necessary, and security assistance to Israel is a top priority. Congress is ready to ensure Israel receives the assistance it needs to defend its citizens."

"This is a transparent attempt by career staffers in the State Department to f*ck with the Israelis and derail the efforts of Congressional Republicans and President Trump to rebuild the US-Israel relationship. There's no reason to push for the Israelis to return the money, unless you're trying to drive a wedge between Israel and Congress, which is exactly what this is. It won't work."

Another foreign policy operative said: "It's not clear to me why the Secretary of State wishes to at once usurp the powers of the Congress and then to derail his boss's rapprochement with the Israeli government."

Since he was sworn in as Secretary of State on February 1, Tillerson and his advisors at the State Department have made a number of statements and policy decisions that contradict Trump's key campaign promises on foreign policy, especially regarding Israel and Iran.

August 10. The State Department hosted representatives of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), an umbrella group established by the Muslim Brotherhood with the aim of mainstreaming political Islam in the United States. Behind closed doors, they reportedly discussed what they said was Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine and the removal of all Israeli control of the Temple Mount and holy areas of Jerusalem. Observers said the meeting was part of larger effort by anti-Israel organizations to drive a wedge between the Trump administration and Israel. The USCMO includes a number of organizations, including American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which promote "extreme anti-Israel views" and "anti-Zionist" propaganda, and which support boycotts of the Jewish state.

July 19. The State Department's new "Country Reports on Terrorism 2016" blamed Israel for Palestinian Arab terrorism against Jews. It attributed Palestinian violence to: "lack of hope in achieving statehood;" "Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank;" "settler violence;" and "the perception that the Israeli government was changing the status quo on the Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount." The report also characterized Palestinian Authority payments to the families of so-called martyrs as "financial packages to Palestinian security prisoners...to reintegrate them into society."

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) called on the State Department to hold the PA accountable in State Department Country reports: "The State Department report includes multiple findings that are both inaccurate and harmful to combating Palestinian terrorism.... At the highest level, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership incites, rewards, and, in some cases, carries out terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis. In order to effectively combat terrorism, it is imperative that the United States accurately characterize its root cause — PA leadership."

June 14. Tillerson voiced opposition to designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, saying that such a classification would complicate Washington's relations in the Middle East. During his confirmation hearings on January 11, by contrast, Tillerson lumped the Brotherhood with al-Qaeda when talking about militant threats in the region. He said:

"Eliminating ISIS would be the first step in disrupting the capabilities of other groups and individuals committed to striking our homeland and our allies. The demise of ISIS would also allow us to increase our attention on other agents of radical Islam like al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and certain elements within Iran."

June 13. During testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tillerson said he had received reassurances from President Mahmoud Abbas that the Palestinian Authority would end the practice of paying a monthly stipend to the families of suicide bombers and other attackers, commonly referred to by Palestinians as martyrs. One day later, Palestinian officials contradicted Tillerson, saying that there are no plans to stop payments to families of Palestinians killed or wounded carrying out attacks against Israelis.

May 22. Tillerson sidestepped questions on whether the Western Wall is part of Israel, while telling reporters aboard Air Force One they were heading to "Tel Aviv, home of Judaism." Asked directly whether he considers the Western Wall under Israeli sovereignty, Tillerson replied: "The wall is part of Jerusalem."

May 15. In an interview with Meet the Press, Tillerson appeared publicly to renege on Trump's campaign promise to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem:

"The president, I think rightly, has taken a very deliberative approach to understanding the issue itself, listening to input from all interested parties in the region, and understanding what such a move, in the context of a peace initiative, what impact would such a move have."

Tillerson also appeared to equate the State of Israel and the Palestinians:

"As you know, the president has recently expressed his view that he wants to put a lot of effort into seeing if we cannot advance a peace initiative between Israel and Palestine. And so I think in large measure the president is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact a peace process."

Critics of this stance have argued that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would, instead, advance the peace process by "shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel."

March 8. The State Department confirmed that the Obama administration's $221 million payment to the Palestinian Authority, approved just hours before Trump's inauguration, had reached its destination. The Trump administration initially had vowed to freeze the payment.

In July 2017, the Free Beaconreported that Tillerson's State Department was waging an "open political war" with the White House on a range of key issues, including the U.S.-Israel relationship, the Iran portfolio, and other matters:

"The tensions have fueled an outstanding power battle between the West Wing and State Department that has handicapped the administration and resulted in scores of open positions failing to be filled with Trump confidantes. This has allowed former Obama administration appointees still at the State Department to continue running the show and formulating policy, where they have increasingly clashed with the White House's own agenda."

A veteran foreign policy analyst interviewed by the Free Beacon laid the blame squarely on Tillerson:

"Foggy Bottom [a metonym for the State Department] is still run by the same people who designed and implemented Obama's Middle East agenda. Tillerson was supposed to clean house, but he left half of them in place and he hid the other half in powerful positions all over the building. These are career staffers committed to preventing Trump from reversing what they created."

Notable holdovers from the Obama administration are now driving the State Department's Iran policy:

Michael Ratney, a top advisor to former Secretary of State John Kerry on Syria policy. Under the Trump administration, Ratney's role at the State Department has been expanded to include Israel and Palestine issues. Ratney, who was the U.S. Consul in Jerusalem between 2012 and 2015, oversaw $465,000 in U.S. grants to wage a smear to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office in 2015 parliamentary elections, according to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Ratney admitted to Senate investigators that he deleted emails containing information about the Obama administration's relationship with the group.

Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., a career foreign service officer who serves as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Shannon, the State Department's fourth-ranking official, has warned that scrapping the Iran deal would lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. "Any effort to step away from the deal would reopen a Pandora's box in that region that would be hard to close again," he said. His statement indicates that Shannon could be expected to lead efforts to resist any attempts to renege or renegotiate the deal; critics of the deal say that Iran's continued missile testing has given Trump one more reason to tear up his predecessor's deal with the Islamist regime.

Chris Backemeyer is now the highest-ranking official at the State Department for Iran policy. During the Obama administration, Backemeyer made his career by selling the Iran deal by persuading multinational corporations to do business with Iran as part of an effort to conclude the Iran nuclear deal.

Ratney, Shannon and Backemeyer, along with Tillerson, reportedly prevailed upon Trump twice to recertify the Iran nuclear deal. The Jerusalem Postexplained:

Washington was briefly abuzz on the afternoon of July 17 when rumors began to circulate that President Trump was eager to declare that Iran was in breach of the conditions laid out in the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA).

Those receptive antennas were further heightened given the previous signals sent. After all, the State Department already released talking points to reporters on the decision to recertify Iran. The Treasury Department also had a package of fresh sanctions on over a dozen Iranian individuals and entities ready to announce to appease the hawks who were eager to cut loose from the deal.

But Trump didn't want to recertify Iran, nor did he want to the last time around in April. That evening, a longtime Middle East analyst close to senior White House officials involved in the discussions described the scene to me: "Tillerson essentially told the president, 'we just aren't ready with our allies to decertify.' The president retorted, 'Isn't it your job to get our allies ready?' to which Tillerson said, 'Sorry sir, we're just not ready.'" According to this source, Secretary Tillerson pulled the same maneuver when it came to recertification in April by waiting until the last minute before finally admitting the State Department wasn't ready. On both occasions he simply offered something to the effect of, "We'll get 'em next time."

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52 Reader Comments

Ed in North Texas • Sep 20, 2017 at 15:04

Tillerson is one of the biggest mistakes Trump has made in appointments. He either has become a captive of the State Department careerists (which has been a hotbed of Leftism/Socialism/Communism since at least the Roosevelt [the younger] administration) or he always has been a foreign policy Leftist and concealed it successfully.

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Michael S Ed in North Texas • Sep 20, 2017 at 17:50

Ed, yours are not the only comments I have been having trouble with here.

Tillerson, a foreign policy Leftist????

Since when is the CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world a Leftist? I read Das Kapital, the Thought of Chairman Mao Tse Tung and a bit of Lenin; and it seems to me that "Leftists" aka "Marxists" are inherently AGAINST large corporations like Tillerson's former charge, Exxon-Mobil.

I know that this is a conservative blog; and therefore, everything evil in this world must be called "Leftist", "Radical Islamic" or both. I submit, however, that Rex Tillerson is "none of the above". He is a good, old-fashioned, died-in-the-wool Capitalist.

Let's put aside the labels for a moment, and get down to the mechanics of the problems in the White House and in State. Consider this:

"To date, five of the six under secretary of state positions remain unfilled and the sixth is held by an Obama-era holdover. Ambassador posts in critical locations like Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Cairo; Berlin; Doha, Qatar; Kabul, Afghanistan; and Seoul, South Korea, also remain vacant."

Does that sound like a plot by Tillerson, colluding with Deep State? It looks to me, as though Our Secretary of State has little functional connection with the "Deep State", even with those who supposedly are closest to him; and that he is further undermined by the fact that Trump has created his own "Parallel State Department" consisting of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

This country is in a heap of trouble, and has been since 2008. Just look at this economic analysis, complete with graphs:

The US and world economies have been teetering on the edge of disaster for nine years, with spin-offs in foreign policy and every other area. How can Trump, or any other President, conduct effective foreign policy, when half the navy is uncrewed and suffering from years of deferred maintenance because of severe budget problems? Trump can make all the threats he wants, through Tillerson, Kushner or the BBC; but he cannot back them up because we are BROKE. That probably is behind the disfunction in Washington, far more than Who's on First and What's the name of the guy on second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg

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Ed in North Texas Michael S • Sep 21, 2017 at 13:29

Unless I am mistaking your objection, I can't buy that a capitalist and major corporation CEO can't be a political Leftist. Not to mention I stated that he is either a captive of the State careerists (which doesn't mean he is colluding with them, rather that he is a neophyte and they have managed to sway him) or he has always been a foreign policy Leftist. Capitalism and Leftist politics are hardly opposites in the US at least since Roosevelt the younger.

You are certainly correct that the lack of filling Under Secretary positions and leaving any political appointees of the former administration in place is a large problem. And of course the economy has been on life support during the entire period from 2008 through 2016 plus. I'm no Trump supporter no matter what, but the economy is improving and saying our military can't function is incorrect (the Navy having problems and ground troops on merry-go-round rotations notwithstanding).

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Carl • Sep 19, 2017 at 10:46

Time to really clean house starting with Tillerson.

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David • Sep 19, 2017 at 02:23

The consistency of the State Department's anti-Israel stance comes as no surprise to reader's of John Loftus and Mark Aaron's 1994 classic, "The Secret War Against the Jews." That bestseller (obviously unread by many who purchased it) documented the obscene payouts that the Saudi government lavished on State Department employees, often in the form of post-retirement pensions to influence their perspectives against Israel. That may well explain the inflexible anti-Israel positions voiced the U.S. State Department's regardless of the Executive or the Legislative branches' policies. The Department of State is the Number One Swamp that needs draining.

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Michael S David • Sep 19, 2017 at 18:10

David,

I am having problems with what you said.

1. First of all, you are linking this alleged State Department "conspiracy" (for lack of a better word) with payments by the Saudi government. If you had said, "members of the Saudi royal family", this would be understandable; since every prince and sheikh seems to have his own agenda. The Saudi GOVERNMENT, on the other hand, has been portrayed, lately, as secretly friendly with Israel. Why would that government want to undermine Israel via the US State Department.

2. This article is portraying US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as being not in charge with but rather in cahoots with, the "Deep State" conspirators. Tillerson, being the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, may have old business connections with Saudi players that affect his actions -- suggesting that those Saudis with whom he has dealt in business, no doubt members of the royal family, are actually pulling the strings concerning US policy toward Israel.

3. OK. Lets assume that there's a plot by influential Saudi royals that is engineering this whole process. They must also have influenced the choosing of Tillerson as Secretary in the first place. How did they do this? Steve Bannon said that in those early days of the Administration, Trump was forced to accept many Deep Staters (such as Tillerson) because he had to get his people into power over what was essentially an Obama-appointed State Department. Bannon said Trump had to get those people in those positions; but why did they have to be Deep Staters? As things have turned out, Bannon himself has suffered from the move.

4. Jared Kushner. All roads seem to lead back to Jared Kushner, the President's Son-in-Law. It seems that in this nefarious world,

"Trump has slain his thousands, but Jared his tens of thousands".

If you don't know what I am paradying here, I will spell it out for you (and others):

1 Samuel 18:[7] And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.[8] And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?[9] And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

In this analogy, Trump is likened to Saul, a big, brash, boisterous King of Israel, whose poorly-thought-out "Twitter-like" pronouncements were prone to get both him and Israel into trouble. His SON-IN-LAW, however, the future King who would replace him, namely, David, was busy on the king's errands, being successful with them.

It is ominous, that Kushner has been given responsibility for all of Trump's difficult projects, such as peace in the Middle East. Because of Netanyahu's personal connection with him, I expect him to be successful; at any rate, Trump's inner circle seems to be working more in favor of Kushner than of Trump; but the President seems blinded, by family loyalty, from noticing this.

What is really, really strange about this scenario, is that Kushner, whose flagship property is at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York, occupies a place analogous to King David, who is described as the archetype of the coming Messiah.

I do not accept Kushner as Messiah; but if he can come out on top of the troubles in Washington and in the world (granted, a BIG "if"), the masses probably will.

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elias hagooli • Sep 18, 2017 at 22:47

The reality is quite simple. The administration is being strong-armed by the State Department which has an agenda of it's own and knows how to achieve it. Israel will be well advised to take this reality to heart. Israel must depend on itself. The world is changing for Israel. India, China, Russia, Eastern Europe and the new reality of natural gas are benefiting Israel. The State Department is not realizing that the technology of Israel can be an economic game changer for the U.S. These new countries forming ties with Israel are also countries that can produce and distribute these technologies --The production of Barack missiles in India is just the beginning .

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Maha • Sep 18, 2017 at 16:29

Palestinian statehood? They deserve no such thing. They should be removed to surrounding Arab countries, as should Syrian refugees. The Saudis, with their export of Salafist ideology are culpable, and should be the primary immigration site.

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Jack Thomas • Sep 18, 2017 at 03:04

We have a similar situation in the UK where our "civil servants" (government employees) are pursuing their own agenda rather than what we voted for. Why would it be any different in the US?

There needs to be a massive "swamp draining" on both sides of the Atlantic if the votes of the people are to be respected.

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ELIAS HAGOOLI • Sep 17, 2017 at 22:59

Israel must realize that the forces against it cannot be changed. Israel did survive 1948---1967 ---1973 ---All had one thing in common --huge stance against Israel even when it was trying to exist. The biggest error of Israel is not continuing with it's aircraft production and research --- Israel risked too much being at the mercy of the State Department.

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HaroldT • Sep 17, 2017 at 20:32

Why does Pres. Trump not fire him?

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Baki • Sep 17, 2017 at 19:57

I think Trump and the so called Trump agenda has nothing to do with each other. The Trump family are liberal folks from New York, and for Trump is much important his daughter's and family's opinion than some "crazy" and hard Trump agenda. The election campaign is over. Trump is a hector. He is not the victim of his own administration, he wants this administration. Well said, Trump is the weakest president ever.

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Bisley Baki • Sep 18, 2017 at 05:02

You may be right, but I sincerely hope not. Either Trump is being misinformed, manipulated and pressured into staffing most of the government with people who oppose his policies (without understanding that he's sabotaging his own agenda), or his public positions on most things are a pack of lies, and he's doing what he intends to do. Is he weak and politically ignorant, or just a liar?

If he expects to be re-elected, he's going to have to replace many of the people he's appointed, use the power he has to influence the public to beat the Republican leadership in Congress into submission, and deliver on most of his promises. Lying won't keep him in office. He has the ability to be a reasonably good president (and get re-elected), but not if he stays on the present course (whatever it is).

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baki Bisley • Sep 18, 2017 at 19:46

Hmmm...I'm not sure he wants to be reelected, his wife did not like the idea to running in presidential election. Maybe it is tiresome and onerous for them to be hated and slandered, they could live an easy, calm life. Firing all the "Trump agenda" people from the administration and doing establishment politics maybe shows the desire they want to be loved and accepted. Enough for them the confrontation and the dangerous life. Hmmm...I don't know, but it is not a coincidence who are the team mates of Trump.

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MrLogical • Sep 17, 2017 at 19:48

There is a time-proven statement in performance-oriented organizations and entities that is used to take the measure of people who have big responsibilities and are expected to deliver when the chips are down.

Trump was elected by citizens who were fed up with a "swamp" of professional poliiticians who were completely out of touch with them. His cause was championed by a handful of experts such as Steve Bannon. Unfortunately the self-seeking, professional political and diplomatic class, the very ones the American people have been fed up with, completely dominate the talent pool for those professions. Trump and Bannon found themselves in control of the presidency, but little else. They had to fill vacant slots, in order to get rid of the Obama swamp creatures; but have only more Obama and Bush swamp creatures available to replace them.

Kushner and Ivanka are as swampy as they come, but they are Trump's ONLY trusted companions (because of their blood relationship) and they will NEVER get fired -- even more so, since they technically haven't even been "hired": They work for $0 -- world-controlling power, but $0. More and more, those two ARE the US Government.

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Jennifer • Sep 17, 2017 at 19:22

The evil NWO agenda trying to re-assert itself again, against the people. We see you Satan. Come, Lord Jesus.

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RobertM • Sep 17, 2017 at 18:35

I give Tillerson less than a year. Nikki Haley will be SecState this time next year.

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James Lindsay RobertM • Sep 18, 2017 at 02:02

Bolton -- unless Trump can't take a bit of criticism now and then!

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Bruno • Sep 17, 2017 at 18:29

The Democrats are attempting to attack Trump on enough fronts to force him into mistakes by not allowing him the time to personally review each situation. Because of his history as I see it he won't admit his errors. However, recently there has been a change and he will replace Tillerson if Tillerson's actions are not within Trump's overall strategy.

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Biffo The Bear • Sep 17, 2017 at 16:26

The left is firmly embedded in the systems and machinery of government. Trump will not be able to put his programme into action because no one in the civil service and government departments will do it. These people operate the levers of government and they have decided that Trumps policies are going to be ignored ,watered down or manipulated out of existence. To be successful Trump would need to replace the whole machinery of government.

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Mordecai Ben Ami • Sep 17, 2017 at 15:20

As president, Trump has the authority to fire that Jew hater, Tillerson, and all those in the Foreign office.But obviously, he has a lot of homework to do, to find the best replacement for those in the FO.Amazing how the FO has always had Jew haters who want to see Israel destroyed in order to satisfy the Arabs Muslims

Within 20 years, they will regret their attitude, once Islam takes over all of Europe and USA.They will have to convert to Islam or face the sword.

Trump said that he will clean out the swamp, but has done nothing.WAKE UP PRESIDENT TRUMP before those in the FO will destroy you TOTALLY

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Chuck • Sep 17, 2017 at 15:05

Makes me wonder how much the President is actually being manipulated when it comes to NOKO maniacs, the most crucial issue now. And why does this President, of all people, tolerate the anti-Semitism that has existed in the State Dept. for decades?

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Walter Flach • Sep 17, 2017 at 14:40

If President Trump wants to survive, he should get rid of McMaster and Tillerson - the enemy from within - before it's too late. Traitors, working in tandem with the enemies of the other side of the aisle.

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tiki • Sep 17, 2017 at 13:50

The US State Department never has been a friend of Israel and Rex Tillerson, the ex-Exxon Mobil boss with his good Arab connections, is in the right environment to continue this policy.

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Bruce tiki • Sep 30, 2017 at 11:07

The Obama fifth column could be better described as Zbigniew Brzezinski's ghost brigade. The parallels between the Obama administration and the Carter administration are uncanny. The only difference is that we had to wait eight years for a winning Republican candidate, and the damage was corresponding much greater. The sidelining of Israel, the repeated overtures to Iran, the support of the Palestinians, and the support of Radical Jihadists against the interests of Russia, the main difference was the blatant coup in Kiev, which went farther than any Cold War meddling in Eastern Europe, and that the leftist media being given licence to demonise modern Russia, due to its concerbative domestic policies anathema to the Cultural Marxist clique at the centre of the Obama politburo.

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Martin Schaffel • Sep 17, 2017 at 13:15

A picture is being created of a president who finds it easy to take action by administrative order to enforce his policies or drain the swamp but who finds it difficult to confront those who are intent in preventing him from fulfilling his campaign promises. He has constantly capitulated to those who stand against his policies rather than use his power to fight them toe to toe. Tillerson, McMaster, McConnell, McCain, Schumer or Pelosi, all have come to find out that going head to head with Trump and holding out for their demands will probably end up benefiting themselves, whatever their beliefs. Mr. Trump is finding out that being a CEO in politics is quite different than being a CEO of a construction-development company.

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Tom • Sep 17, 2017 at 13:06

Why has President Trump not moved this self important egotistic idiot to another position, maybe in charge of sewage !

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Capt Dax • Sep 17, 2017 at 13:02

The Heart of the Problems we are facing today: The Muslim Brotherhood Deep State is protecting Obama's Agenda in a Trump Administration.

The Muslim Brotherhood has penetrated every one of our national security agencies, including our intelligence agencies, according to retired Navy admiral James "Ace"..

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DockyWocky • Sep 17, 2017 at 12:18

Draining the swamp in our nation's capital has proven to be a much more difficult chore than "The Donald" expected. Hardly anyone who derives his income from the American taxpayer plans on taking his mouth off that succulent teat, and the resistance seems to be strengthening daily.

Perhaps Trump ought to consider creating a new "Special Forces" to go in there and route them by force. There must be plenty of SEALS and Green Berets who would jump at the chance to clean up our government.

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Harvey L • Sep 17, 2017 at 12:17

Draining the swamp is long overdue, the United States voted for change at present the people aren't getting it.

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Bisley • Sep 17, 2017 at 12:16

Trump seems to be in the process of committing political suicide by staffing his administration with people who are opposed to everything he claims to stand for, and campaigned on. Trump and whoever he trusts enough to advise him on appointments have staffed most of the departments and agencies of government (and the White House) with establishment Republicans and Democrats who are pushing their own policies, which are generally opposed to his. They have not only failed to purge government of the Obama appointees who see Trump as the enemy, but reappointed and promoted many, and rehired some who quit.

If Trump intends to have any control over government, or put into effect any of the things he campaigned on (and not infuriate those who voted for him, and destroy any chance of being re-elected), he's going to have to replace a great many of the people he's appointed with people who are in general agreement with what he wants to do, and will purge their agencies of Obama appointees and others who oppose his policies. The people advising him on appointments need to be the first to go, and then Tillerson -- then, there are many others, some in equally important positions, who need to be replaced. If Trump expects to accomplish anything at all, he's going to have to staff the government with people who are not working against him.

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Paul Anderson • Sep 17, 2017 at 11:22

Looking for the error in our ways we find the continued effort to believe that Donald Trump as President of the United States is at all different than Donald Trump as developer and real estate mogul. It is just not true. Trump is not Democrat or Republican. Trump is not Liberal or Conservative. Trump is Trump and that is what is going on. Yes, he has an Agenda and yes he promised things that people who voted for him like to think is part of his agenda. That is the error of our ways. Trump's agenda is for himself alone. The "Great Again" America is not the "Great Again" America most of us dream of or perceive. I am not pro-Trump and I am not anti-Trump because neither will make any difference. He will work with whoever he needs to work with. His dreams are all about Making Trump Greater Again and Again and Again. We are simply along for the ride and some will benefit and love him and some will lose and hate him but there are none who are really on his team. It's best if we just get used to it and if we want a change, 2020 is coming.

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John Charles • Sep 17, 2017 at 11:10

Tillerson is clearly bigoted, biased, anti-Semitic, and a Israel-hater. A Tillerson State Department Report blames Israel for Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks on innocent Jews and Americans, ignores and whitewashes the Palestinian Authority's (PA) 'pay to slay' payments to Arabs to murder Jews, among other travesties.Although he has been a contributor to Republican, he didn't contribute to Trump's campaign. Why Trump chose this anti-Semite to be Secretary of State is a mystery.

In the report, the State Department listed as "continued drivers of violence" a "lack of hope in achieving Palestinian statehood, Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the perception that the Israeli government was changing the status quo on the Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount, and IDF tactics that the Palestinians considered overly aggressive."

The report also said that Palestinian leaders had addressed incitement.

"The PA has taken significant steps during President [Mahmoud] Abbas' tenure (2005 to date) to ensure that official institutions in the West Bank under its control do not create or disseminate content that incites violence," it said. "While some PA leaders have made provocative and inflammatory comments, the PA has made progress in reducing official rhetoric that could be considered incitement to violence."

The ZOA said the report directly contradicted multiple criticisms of the Palestinian Authority for incitement by President Donald Trump and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

The ZOA statement praised Rep. Pete Roskam, R-Ill., for his letter to the State Department last week seeking changes in the report.

Tillerson is a petty employee with no vision and unable to take the right decisions in particular regarding the Palestinian question. He's meddling everything the way Obanana did and the State Department is becoming once again an anti Israel which is also an anti America snake cave. President Trump should fire him along with all of the little-mini weeny corrupt chiefs from the state dept. and let them find jobs elsewhere.

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Jerzy Wolwowicz • Sep 17, 2017 at 10:04

It has been obvious from the time of President Trump's inauguration that his administration is riddled with a fifth column of of Islamists and anti-Semitic pro-Obama people left in place deliberately to sabotage his work to put America back on track. The use of left-wing tactics to terrorise the population with terrorist antifa and various propaganda ploys accusing him of being racist, misogynistic, sexist are all continuing actions of Obama sympathisers to bring down his administration.

The solution can only be the cleaning out of these Augean Stables of Obama's creation. Also send out a signal to all terrorist and Islamist organisations by NOT funding Muslim Brotherhood, PA and others sucking on the financial teats of America. Any staffer, administrator, etc with Islamic connections should be banned from any Government, military, diplomatic, security position especially those that require security clearance. The proven sympathies and actions of previous administration make it dangerous to leave any of their appointees in place.

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Patricia Canon Jerzy Wolwowicz • Sep 18, 2017 at 00:08

"It has been obvious from the time of President Trump's inauguration that his administration is riddled with a fifth column of of Islamists and anti-Semitic pro-Obama people left in place deliberately to sabotage his work to put America back on track." I worry that this may be a very astute insight. What other explanation can there be? As long as Javanka is allowed to staff the White House there will be no real Trump revolution. Trump has the power to change all of it, but he does not.

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Kenneth Mathews • Sep 17, 2017 at 10:01

We need to stop lying to ourselves. There is no war between the State Department and the White House. Pres. Trump appointed Tillerson and has chosen so far to keep him in power despite the fact that he could fire and replace him at will. May G-d bless Israel and all who love her.

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Clarence J. Feinour • Sep 17, 2017 at 09:11

Not only Tillerson, but McMaster is also stepping in the way of Trump's Agenda. Just look at Trump's recent 9/11 speech and when he mentioned the recent attempted bombing in UK. Trump sounded more like Obama, not once calling 9/11 attack and the recent UK bombing when he failed to even mention Islamic extremism or Islamic Jihad once during either speech. Who, I ask, is moderating his speeches. Remember during the campaign, Trump often condemned political correctness. Yet today it sounds like Trump has caved in to those very same folks he blamed for failure to name those who want to kill us.

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Pat Holdahl • Sep 17, 2017 at 09:11

Why is Trump so weak when it comes to Tillerson & State Dept? Why is Obama's State Dept.still in power? Obama's foreign policy, still in effect, will cost Trump in next election. I thought that a Trump presidency was to rid America of George Soros aka Mr.Luciferean! If Trump keeps pushing this Obama/Soros agenda, he's finished. Trump is by far the weakest president that ever held office. God help America, we're finished!

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Ruth Broch Pat Holdahl • Sep 17, 2017 at 22:47

My sentiments exactly. I do not understand what is going on there. Why haven't Tillerson and McMaster been fired? Where is the supposedly Orthodox son-in-law, supposedly Trump's strongest advisor, in all of this? I am appalled by what is going on vis a vis Israel, not to mention the wall between the USA and Mexico.

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baki • Sep 17, 2017 at 08:44

If Trump is so dissatisfied with him, and with other globalists as McMaster, why would he not fire them, why would he not replace them? Why would he not fire the bosses of the so called "hostile" agencies? Why did he choose them to the positions?

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Beth baki • Sep 17, 2017 at 12:52

Seems that he may be secretly part of the globalists. Otherwise, why else would he act in this fashion?

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Phil Copson baki • Sep 17, 2017 at 13:45

Simple - Tillerson and McMaster are stronger personalities than Trump and he's frightened of them.

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Alexander baki • Sep 17, 2017 at 15:08

You hit the nail on the head. I've been asking myself the exact same questions. Why did Trump choose these particular individuals to fill these positions and why doesn't Trump fire them and replace them? Precisely what I've been asking myself well over a hundred times.

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Andrew T. Halmay • Sep 17, 2017 at 08:35

Who advised the President on the choice for Secretary of State? That individual or group of individuals, like many others, were working against the President and should be permanently removed. As for Tillerson, the President must sit down with him, man to man, to make it clear to him that he is not the President and if he feels he cannot support the President's plans then he should immediately resign.

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Robert Tulloch • Sep 17, 2017 at 08:33

Time for patriots to storm the government and drain the swamp themselves.

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Andrew T. Halmay Robert Tulloch • Sep 17, 2017 at 08:42

Bingo. You hit the nail on the head.

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joe quellman • Sep 17, 2017 at 08:31

Tillerson is the hippo of the swamp. Thankfully Amb Bolton's commentaries continue to address, redirect, and inspire.

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Linda Kurgan joe quellman • Sep 17, 2017 at 12:21

Trump said he grew up a democrat... I like what he does do, but maybe that's why he doesn't root them out.

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